Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the mounting of steerable, ground engaging, wheels for vehicles. While not limited thereto, the invention has been developed in relation to rigid steerable axles for large commercial vehicles in which the developed forces are high, the invention also being applicable to independently sprung wheels.
The braking and cornering forces applied to a steerable wheel are transmitted to its mounting, and the forces applied to the mounting are a function of the forces applied to the wheel and of the distance between the area of engagement of the wheel with the ground and the mounting. It has been proposed to reduce the forces applied to the mounting by arranging the bearing which mounts the steerable wheel for steering movement below the axis of rotation of the wheel, thereby reducing the moment arm of the forces. It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in such mountings.